Hydroponic Growing

[shirehorse99]

It’s like a bloody jungle in there at the moment - soon I will take out these plants to increase light levels and start the autumn crops - salad grows great in there in autumn/winter . Plus all my citrus need to go back into their winter home

[shirehorse99]

Not a massive outlay on costs - probably less than £200 for all the systems - all bought from Ebay

[cojmh]

Really interesting Posts and pics look great

I have looked into aquaponics before because we are also into keeping fish - but the heating requirement was quite high during the winter in particular so also looked into heating via compost heaps. I reckon there is a balance that is possible but this if firmly in the future projects category for me.

Currently we just have a greenhouse where we grow tomatoes, cucumbers and we even have a couple of grape vines too.

My wife has successfully grown water melons in the past - in the conservatory. I will ask her if she had to pollinate by hand .... I have a feeling she did. The water melons (we got 2) were quite small - but tasted quite nice.

[shirehorse99]

I’ve never grown any type of melon before - and really didn’t look into their hydroponic nutrient balance requirements - if they didn’t like Tom/cuc nutrients then that could the problem . Just a trial really and they blocked all the light - might try them in their own system next year away from the window

[shirehorse99]

Aquaponics is very interesting - what type of setup was you thinking of using - indoor or outdoor

[cojmh]

I was looking at an indoor setup in a custom built green house.

There was a decision to make about whether it would be slow growing (and cold water) trout as the fish stock - but my wife does not like trout - although my dad does) or to go with a faster growing Tilapia which like brackish water but they also require much warmer water. Tilapia is quite a "neutral" tasting fish so generally is flavoured during the cooking.

From my initial calculations a 6-8 cubic metre compost heap over the winter should keep the water warm for almost 7 months of the year and solar to take up the slack for the rest of the year .... I think looking back now the margins would be a bit tight and at peak heat production we would have a surplus.

Still something I would really like to look into but it is years away ... probably.

[shirehorse99]

Could do something similar to this with floating rafts on full depth IBC using maybe salmon/trout/catfish

[cojmh]

I believe salmon need flowing water and a lot more space - so I have not heard of salmon being used in smaller systems. but the idea of using the floating rafts are a good idea.

I have heard - but not seen of people using crayfish instead of fish .... but it is difficult to figure out and balance everything

Do cat fish taste nice? - I had never considered this. There is also the issue of animal welfare I need to square away too.

The theory is great and those that have got it working have done very well

[shirehorse99]

I’d be interested to see your results if you ever follow this through -

My project is trying to get a banana to fruit in this country!!